


In the Basement

by Elionia



Series: Clody [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Clody, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Friendship/Love, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-30 05:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15744993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elionia/pseuds/Elionia
Summary: A oneshot for the rarest ship in the new season of Telltale's The Walking Dead series! Clementine and Brody, or Clody.I really liked Brody, and hated what happened to her. Thank goodness for headcanon!





	In the Basement

Clementine awoke to the sound of crying. She immediately hopped out of bed to check if AJ was okay, and let out a sigh of relief once she realized he was fast asleep, even snoring slightly. She smiled; she would have to curb that habit before he got too old and his voice deepened.

 _Years to go, fortunately,_ Clementine thought to herself with a soft shake of the head.

Her attention soon returned to what woke her - the crying. She could hear it through the walls, faint weeping, so faint she thought she must have been imagining things, but no; it was real, persistent.

Clementine crept to the door, taking care not to wake AJ in the process. He was usually a light sleeper, which was a great asset outside of Ericson's, but she didn't want to stir him, not on his first night spent in a bed.

She slowly opened the door and peeked outside to check if the coast was clear. There was no one in the hall, but the crying sound grew a fraction louder. Clementine stepped out of the room and closed it as quietly as she could,

“I’ll be back AJ. Sleep tight.”

She made the promise in a whisper breath before she began to make her way down the hall, following the piping exposed through the derelict walls; the sobbing was traveling through the rusty copper tubes.

As Clementine drew closer to the source, she couldn’t help feel that there was something familiar about the voice - the tone, perhaps? Where had she heard it before?

The pipes brought her to the basement door, which she opened after a short moment of waiting to see if anyone else had awoken to investigate the noise.

Stepping in, Clementine peered through the darkness of the basement. She could hardly make out her own hands in front of her, but she saw a distant light at the bottom of the basement stairs.

Gripping the railing of the stairs, Clementine climbed down gingerly; she saw the silhouette of a person looming from behind a shelf, and by this time could hear words in between the sobs and heaves,

“J-j-just… fuck… fuck… fuck…”

Clementine froze. She recognized that voice, even in its warbly, breathless and distraught state; the country farmgirl accent, touched with a twang - it could only be one person at the school,

“Brody?”

As if struck, the crying girl silenced herself and stayed still, although Clementine could still see the shadow. A tense moment passed before Brody stepped out from behind a tall shelf, flashlight in hand. She shone the light in Clementine’s face, then blinked in surprise,

“C-clementine?”

Uncertain of what to do, Clementine posed the only question that came to mind,

“Are you okay?”

Brody was still stunned. No doubt she hadn’t expected anyone to stumble across her tonight, especially not Clementine, the newest arrival to Ericson's. Wiping her face sloppily in her sleeve, Brody chose to angrily deflect,

“W-why the f-fuck are you down here,” her voice was trembling, and Clementine could guess that the girl was having a difficult time getting coherent words out between tears and curses, “go back to your dorm. You’ve no f-fucking business at all-”

“All right, all right, calm down,” Clementine cut Brody off before she fell into a full rant and rave, “I didn’t mean to upset you. I heard your crying and wanted to see what was wrong.” She held her hands up and took a single step back, “I’m sorry. I’ll leave if you want.”

Brody’s hands were shaking as she rose them to tap her temples in an anxious jitter,

“No… no… fuck, I’m sorry Clementine. I didn’t mean to yell… shit… it’s just… no one was supposed to hear me… FUCK!”

Clementine, initially on edge because of being snapped at, slowly began to realize that Brody was having a fit,

 _I can't leave her like this,_ she thought as she stared at the fidgeting girl, who was still going head over heels in a frantic, high-strung apology,

“C-clem, I didn’t mean to… oh God… what is wrong with me? Why am I so stup-”

“Brody, it’s okay,” Clementine took a step forwards, approaching with caution, “You’re not stupid. You’re being too hard on yourself. Just tell me what’s wrong.” She was close to Brody now, and held out a hand.

Brody seemed reluctant to touch, but allowed Clementine’s hand to grasp her own. It was like hooking a fish, for as soon as she latched on, Brody began a futile struggle to let go, but with words only - she was clutching Clementine tight.

“It’s nothing… I just get this way sometimes… I usually j-just do it in my dorm, but,” a small giggle-hiccup escaped her before she shook her head, “it’s just… today was worse than usual…”

Clementine squeezed Brody’s hand reassuringly,

“Do you want to talk about it? Did something happen?”

There was a long silence; then Brody’s eyes rose to meet Clementine’s, leaving their previous focus on the floor - blue on brown, the two girls stared at each other for what seemed to be an extremely awkward few seconds, at least to Clementine. At last Brody sighed and slumped her shoulders,

“I think it was just today… being a year since Sophie and Minnie were…" she hesitated, "k-killed. It just hurt seeing Tenn and Vi at the graves. It hurt worse than anything, Clem.”

Clementine blinked in understanding; she had lost more people than she could count fingers on both hands, and all after the outbreak had begun. She couldn't imagine how bad it was for Brody, losing friends she had known from before, when things were normal,

“I'm sorry, Brody. I know that it can be hard losing people… it’s the shittiest feeling in the world.”

“Yeah,” Brody sniffled through a weak laugh, “tell me about it.”

The two girls shared a nice, quiet moment. A minute passed before Brody cleared her throat and looked down to her feet,

“Sorry for waking you up. These walls are thinner than I had hoped.”

“You don't have to apologize,” Clementine said with a small smile, “I just wanted to help. And… I’ll always be here, if you want to talk, or anything.”

Brody’s cheeks grew rosy in the light, which she tried to hide by pointing the flashlight towards a far off corner,

“Thanks, Clem. I… I really appreciate that.”

Then, without warning, she threw herself onto Clementine, wrapping her arms around and holding her new friend tight. Clementine hugged back, closing her eyes and teeter tottering on her heels.

They held the embrace until dawn.


End file.
